


Everything Stays

by MutinousSeagulls



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, a small drabble based around the theory that the characters are self-aware, quarantine has everyone downloading the app again so this happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:08:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25140637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MutinousSeagulls/pseuds/MutinousSeagulls
Summary: Even as the years pass and you change, they will forever remain the same.
Kudos: 24





	Everything Stays

**Author's Note:**

> i hate this so much hhhhhhh

It was strange, suddenly being brought back into existence after who knows how many years of nothing. The sudden overwhelming presence of consciousness overloading every sense and the slow realization that you’ve returned.

You’d once again downloaded the game.

You didn’t open the app right away, if the sudden painstakingly slow passage of time was any indication. You’d brought them back into existence, but only just. It took you several days to start the game once again, with the first playthrough being such a strange sensation.

It was hard to tell if you were even the same person. You looked so different. Older, more around their ages instead of the baby-faced girl who’d originally downloaded an otome game onto their phone. Saeyoung had no way of knowing how old you actually were back then, but now it was obvious that you were around the same age as Yoosung. At least, the age Yoosung’s coding dictated he was, if the college books he’d spotted in the background of your room were anything to go off of. The blonde would like that, being able to relate to the player in at least one way.

If there was any indication in the upcoming events in the game’s files, their app had been released to the public almost four years prior. Had it really been so long? Had they really been sitting in a void of nonexistence for such an extended period?

You played through the routes again. Saeyoung couldn’t help but enjoy it. It was a strange, happy feeling. Even when you pushed him away, even if you never reciprocated any of his jokes, even if you chided him for not taking things seriously.

You were back. You were here.

The differences in your behavior became visible as time went on. You seemed distracted, missing more and more chatrooms as time drew on. That was to be expected, though. He was painfully aware of how busy your life must have been.

What he wasn’t expecting was for you to purchase the max speed and begin to simply skip the chats.

He knew that it shouldn't bother him. He knew that the two of you lived in completely different worlds. He knew that you were real, and had more important things to do.

After all, he didn’t even exist. Not in the way you did, at least. Not in the way those around you did. He was just a bunch of codes programmed to care about whoever happened to install this app.

All he knew to do was follow a strict script, and so he did.

Your newfound difference in age and sudden distance didn’t seem to bother the others, and deep down he knew it shouldn’t bother him.

He was hit with the sudden realization that he would never change. He would never grow, never live alongside you.

He’d never even get to actually speak with you or hear your thoughts, it would always be the occasional scripted response that barely made any difference in the chatroom. He’d never hear your real voice, never get to know the barest minimum any other person in your life would. He didn’t even know if the name you chose was your real name or not.

You would continue to grow, continue to live. 

Someday you’d find someone real to fall in love with. Perhaps you already have — he had no way of knowing.

Someday you would be older than him. Someday you’d be older than  _ any  _ of them.

And he would stay the same. He would never grow, never change. He’d be the same compilation of codes and data. A simple string of numbers and letters that he was meant to be so well-versed in.

Everything would stay, simply waiting. If you happened to uninstall the app, none of them would know. They’d just snap out of existence, completely at the mercy of you. They’d never even know if you left, not unless you decided to once again install the game.

A sudden thought crept its way into Saeyoung’s code of thought.

It would be painfully simple, really. The thoughts of eternity were overwhelming. If he could simply turn it off, however briefly… if he just so happened to shift a line of code around…

The servers shut down instantaneously, and Saeyoung was back into the void of nothing.

It wouldn’t last long, he knew. The app developers would find the bug he’d created, and they’d fix it.

That was fine.

He had an eternity, after all.

Everything stays.

No matter how many times he’d shut down the server, he’d still be there when it was up and running again.

And he’d always be there for her, no matter how much it may hurt.


End file.
